Minor MLB Transactions: 12/8/18

The game is afoot on the eve of the winter meetings, but more than just headline deals will play a role in shaping the coming season of major league baseball. We’ll use this post to track those minor moves from around the league today…

The Brewers have signed righty Deolis Guerra to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com tweets. The 29-year-old Guerra didn’t appear in the majors at all in 2018 after inking a minors pact with the Rangers last offseason. He did perform well as a member of the Rangers’ Triple-A club, however, as he notched a 3.75 ERA, 10.77 K/9, 2.43 BB/9 and a 48.3 percent groundball rate in 59 1/3 innings. Prior to 2018, Guerra saw major league action in each season from 2015-17 and combined for 95 innings of 4.17 ERA pitching, with 7.11 K/9, 2.08 BB/9 and a 40.1 percent grounder mark, with the Pirates and Angels.

Earlier moves:

Veteran lefty starterTommy Milone signed a minor league deal with the Seattle Mariners, per Pete Kerzel of MASNsports.com (via Twitter). The former National, Athletic, Met, Brewer and Twin has pitched parts of every season in the majors since 2011, working to a career 46-37 record, 4.42 ERA across 130 starts. Milone, 32 by Opening Day, saw limited big league time last year, pitching to a 5.81 ERA in 26 1/3 innings in his second stint with the Washington Nationals. He projects as dependable veteran depth for a Mariners team that has undergone major reconstructive changes this offseason, including the trade of another lefty James Paxton. Obviously, Milone is not a replacement for Paxton, though the latter’s absence may play a part in creating the right environment for a veteran lefty like Milone to see some innings in the majors. He hasn’t been used much in relief throughout his career, though that would be another possible path to major league playing time for Milone. He has actually performed with admirable consistency (3.52 xFIP) for a fringy big-leaguer who relies so heavily on a fastball that dipped to 86.9 mph last season. With his best secondary offering being a changeup, control (2.23 BB/9) and a sound ability to generate soft contact (86% career exit velocity) has helped Milone hang around the major leagues. Check in on all of the Mariners minor league signings from the offseason thus far (via Twitter).

The Cleveland Indians announced (via Twitter) the signing of lefty reliever Anthony Gose to a minor league contract. The converted outfielder has been transitioning to the mound over the last couple of seasons after spending parts of five with the Blue Jays and Tigers. Gose, 28, went 1-0 with a 1.37 ERA in a small-sample 7 games for the Down East Wood Ducks in High-A before moving up to the Rangers Double A affiliate in Frisco. Gose came out of the pen 21 times for the Rough Riders, working to a 6.52 ERA while struggling with his command (23 walks in 19 1/3 innings), though he also struck out almost a batter an inning while opposing hitters managed a .243 average against him. He has shown enough promise on the mound to keep the conversion effort going in Cleveland. There does not appear to be an invite to major league camp included in this deal.

Right-hander Pierce Johnson has announced (via Twitter) a new deal to pitch for the Hanshin Tigers in Japan. The exact terms of the deal are not yet known. Johnson became a minor league free agent in early November after pitching for the San Francisco Giants and their Triple A affiliate last year. The former first round pick of the Cubs has yet to see much of an opportunity in the majors, though he pitched well in the upper minors: 17 games, 3.57 ERA, 11.91 K/9, 3.97 BB/9 in Triple A last season. Pierce, 27, will be interesting to look for in coming offseasons, should he seek another opportunity to play in the majors. Recent expat Miles Mikolas enjoyed a productive return to the states in his age-29 season, while Merrill Kelly, 30, just received a nice payday after four years in Korea. A year or two in Japan would put Johnson on a similar timetable for a stateside return if he can put together a productive run with the Tigers.

If Gose can pull off pitching with his other skills, he really could be a unique 2-way player, there’s actually plenty of MLB hitters out there worse than Gose, he has a lot of value if he can be a dominant RP. Perhaps even being used as an opener, moving to CF then moving back to the mound when the long man’s day is over!

He clearly stated “he has a lot of value if he can be a dominant RP”. IF! That said, a lefty that can reach 100MPH could have value once he finds his control. I understand his numbers were inflated by bad control his 1st outing and then them down the next few outings.

Always a pleasure even when we don’t always agree on things. These comments sections get really awful in the offseason with trolls and bad analyzers, but I respect yours!

Gose’s ceiling as a RP is dominant/closer type. Will he ever reach it? No one knows, he still has work to do. My point about him being a special type of 2-way guy, a defense/speed RP, still stands despite the downvotes (btw the more downvotes you give me the better my analysis is, as the truth hurts so many weak homers! haha!)

Sigh. coldbeer more like cold oatmeal of a post you made there, so do I really have to do ALL your work for you? You can’t go to fangraphs on your own and see Gose’s career slash is .240/.309/.348, which is comparable with the likes of Escobar, C Davis, Swanson, Odor, Pujols etc

He converted to pitching because his ceiling is higher, PLEASE know your stuff before stepping to me and decrying anything I say with flat-out lies and BS because your lazy ass cant look at a website for 2 minutes, you idiot troll.

5 players etc now constitutes many mlb players in a league of…over 750 regular players. I do enjoy your insults though. Because when someone is dry on hard facts that dont simply suit their narrative those insults sure come in handy. His 2016 slash was surely impressive and demonstrated the continued decline over his career at the plate. But I’m glad you brought up his career slash because the narrative you are operating on really needed it.

The Tigers demoted him to the minors when he had a horrible spring and couldn’t even break camp with their rebuilding club in 2017. This after a disastrous 2016 which saw him demoted once to AAA, then playing so poorly and having such a bad attitude they demoted him a second time down to AA – with all three stops producing very poor results.

Couple the fact he hasn’t had an OPS above .690 or wRC+ above 90 at *any* level since a AAA stop in 2012, with the fact he couldn’t hit at any level for the Tigers in 2016 or the 2017 Spring, and you have a guy the Tigers decided was not good enough to continue as a position player – they started converting him in 2017.

Truth is, Gose just brings nothing to the table as a position player – he’s a below average fielder who hasn’t been a consistently above average runner and never hit close to average in the majors. As a position player he brings nothing at all to the table – as evidenced by his inability to even play a positional role with a Tigers club that lost 98 the last 2 seasons

He had a career WAR of 1.8, I’m sure there were bigger names with longer careers and poor numbers. That said, his best asset was always his arm and he insisted trying to make it as a player before realizing he needed to try pitching.

Gave you a down vote, but a down vote doesn’t make sense because what you say is true.
IF Gose can become a dominant pitcher then he could have a lot of value.
IF anyone can develop into a dominant pitcher they will have a lot of value!
Question 1 is how likely is this pitcher to develop dominance?
I admit I don’t know a lot about Gose but question 2 s he a good enough ballplayer to ever be a 2way player??

It’s a minor league deal so there is no downside. Yes sign more guys that can possibly fill out a roster and can be moved out at the trade dealine for more youth!
I’m not nesscessarily happy with a total rebuild, but it is happening and Jerry needs to do better than the return he got for Segura!